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(Japanese TV Continued)
One show that Yuki and I watch regularly is Sanma's Super Karakuri. It's on Sunday evenings at 7:00. It's about an hour long (Japanese TV stations usually run a news and weather update around five minutes before the hour, followed by lots of commercials). Anyway, the show has 6 standard segments:
Funny home videos (many from America)
Funniest English
An actress in funny situations
Video letters from rural families
Drunk salarymen quiz
Geriatric quiz
The funny video segment is pretty much what you'd expect from America's Funniest Home Videos, and probably many of these appeared on that program. Lots of kids and animals doing cute things.
The funniest English segment has a young American (don't know his name) who speaks perfect Japanese interviewing Japanese people. He asks the participants to tell a brief story, first in Japanese, relating to a particular phrase (for example, "Gimme a break!"). After they tell the story, he then says, "English, please." The participants try to accommodate his request, with some very funny results.
The funny actress is Tamao Nakamura, who apparently is a popular actress in Japan. She tries out many different odd jobs and usually makes some kind of a mess. Very much like Lucille Ball, but without all the whining.
The video letter segment usually shows a mother and father on the farm giving some greeting and the latest news to one of their children away at school or working in the city. I imagine it's funny, but this is where the language barrier is just too much.
The drunk salaryman quiz is something I think you could only find in Japan. "Salaryman" is the term used here to refer to white collar workers. They are well known for working long hours, and much of their overtime includes excessive drinking with business associates. In urban areas it's not unusual to see groups of inebriated businessmen trying to walk down the street after about 9:00 p.m. The quiz appears to be set up on a Tokyo street corner. Drunk salarymen are directed to the quiz area in pairs, where the M.C. asks them a general knowledge question. There are two phone booths, in which the salarymen can call anybody to help them come up with the answer. Of course, the phone booths have video and audio monitoring so we can watch and listen. Most of the time, the salarymen don't even remember why they're calling. They're pretty pitiful, and yet funny.
The last segment is the geriatric quiz, in which three senior citizens (usually 80+) ring in to answer what should be fairly simple questions. They usually give off-the-wall responses.
It's hard to believe that poor English skills, public drunkenness, and senile dementia would be the stuff of prime time TV comedy. But then with shows like South Park being popular in the U.S., who's to talk about taste?
(Continued)
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